Vertical file-folder.



M. B. JACKSON.

VERTICAL FILE FOLDER- APPLIOATION FILED D2018, 1912.

1,076,582, Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

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I WITNESSES lllII/E/VTOI? 1 MM" Malcolm fldqckso {5' 5y ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON. D. c.

EH 170W M. B. JACKSON.

VERTICAL FILE FOLDER.

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E III MALCOLM B. JACKSON, OF VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

VERTICAL FILE-FOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented (lot. 21, 1213.

Application filed December 18, 1912. Serial No. 737,422.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MALCOLM B. JAoKsoN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Vertical File-Folder, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to filing. devices especially adapted for correspondence or other business papers, whereby such papers are maintained in a substantially Hat and better condition than usually.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a filing device which will reduce the tendency to misfile papers, means being provided whereby each file is kept locked or closed in such a manner as to necessitate the opening of the file in order to introduce additional papers but which locking means is of such a simple nature as to require but a moments expenditure of time.

A further object of the invention, incidental to the foregoing, is to provide a filing folder of such a nature that in case the file be dropped or left lying on a desk'subjected to gusts of wind or the like, the papers will not have the tendency to slip out of place or be otherwise lost.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a filing device of a simple form and yet which will accommodate itself to the increased amount of correspondence to be contained therein without changing the dimensions of the front of the file which ordinarily carries the filing legend or destroying the symmetry or alinement of a series of such files in a cabinet.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings forming a part of this specification in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a View of a folder made in accordance with this invention, the same being shown opened out; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same in one of the folded positions; Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section, substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the transverse form of the folder as indicated in Fig. 2; and Figs. 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 2, but showing the transformation in the form of the folder in accordance with the growth of the correspondence.

Referring particularly to the drawings, I show a folder comprising a front panel 10 and a rear panel 11. Said panels may be connected by any suitable material of a flexible nature. As herein illustrated, however, said parts are integral or formed of the same material throughout, but provided at the bottom with a plurality of parallel scores or weakened lines 12. The line 12 farthest from the rear panel 11 marks or determines the bottom edge of the front panel 10. In other words, the front panel in all embodiments of this invention will be comparatively stiff and the folder will rest upon a bottom of which the line 12 just referred to will be a boundary. The upper or outer portion of the panel 10 is designed to carry a filing legend such as indicated at 13, and such legend may be applied toan extension or tongue 14 located at any desired part of said panel. For reasons already indicated, it will be understood that the length or height of the panel represented by the dis tance from the tongue 14 to the line 12 will remain substantially constant. As the volume of correspondence increases, the thickness of the file will be increased in accordance with the additions along the bottom, or, as indicated in Figs. 41- and 5, in accordance with the successive spaces between the lines 12, and the rear panel 11 will be shortened accordingly. The shortening of the rear panel, however, is not objectionable, but it may be replaced by a wider one, if desired, as the file grows.

In order to provide a convenient temporary seal or lock for securing the front and rear panels together at their mouth and thereby prevent accidental displacement of papers, either at the time of filing or subsequently, I provide a flap 15 secured to one of the anels, preferably the rear panel, in any sultable manner, said flap being of a length sufficient to extend over the upper edge of the front panel and down to a certain distance over the front face, as shown in Fig. 2. A tape or other flexible connection 16 is adapted to cooperate with a holder 17, the latter being shown secured permanently to the front panel and the tape 16 being shown connected permanently to the end of the flap. This locking means therefore insures that the file and its contents will always be reasonably intact, and in order to insert or remove a paper from the file, the locking means must be loosened.

No matter therefore, how full the file may become, when it is removed from the cabinet, all of the papers, either 1n the particular file operated upon or any of the other files, Will remain in place. As the thickness of the file increases, the front panel Will remain of uniform size, but the growth Will be accommodated by the extension of the bottom and the partial shortening of theflap and rear panel, the tape 16, of course, pay- 7 ing out in accordance With such growth.

The flap 15 may be arranged 1n any clesired place, but as indicated herein, I find it most satisfactory to apply it at the middle portion of the folder. By this arrangement 1' be made of any suitable materials, and I do not Wish to be limited to the particular form or dimensions illustrated except as may be required by the state of the art. The flap 1 5 may be of any Width and When broken to make it flexible it may be suitably reinforced With fabric or the like to make it of sufficient strength.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 2-- The herein described filing device comprising a folder having a stiff front panel, a rear panel, flexible means connecting said panels, said flexible means constit uting a.

base of variable Width according to the thickness of the file content-s, and locking means temporarily securing the opposite edges of the panels together, said locking means comprising a flexible flap secured to one panel and extending'over the edge of the opposite panel and a flexible tape adapted to be snubbed around a'holder carried by the other panel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my namejto this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. V

MALCOLM. B. JACKSON.

I Witnesses:

MAU E LEDINGHA JEAN RUTLEDGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eacli, by addgessingthge Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

